Anand Kumar

Anand Kumar (born 1 January 1973) is an Indian Mathematics educator best known for his Super 30 programme, which he started in Patna, Bihar in 2002, and which coaches underprivileged students for IIT-JEE, the entrance examination for the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). By 2018, 422 out of 481 students had made it to the IITs and Discovery Channel showcased his work in a documentary.[3][4][5][6][7] Kumar has spoken at MIT and Harvard about his programs for students from the underprivileged sections of Indian society.[8] Kumar and his school have been the subject of several smear campaigns, some of which have been carried in Indian media sources.[9] His life and work are portrayed in the 2019 film, Super 30, where Kumar is played by Hrithik Roshan.[10]

For other uses, see Anand Kumar (disambiguation).

Anand Kumar
Born
Anand Kumar

(1973-01-01) 1 January 1973
Patna, Bihar, India
NationalityIndian
Alma materBihar National College,
Patna University
OccupationEducationalist, Mathematician
Years active2002–present
Known forSuper 30 program
Notable work
Coaching to economically underprivilaged students for the Indian JEE examination
Spouse(s)Ritu Rashmi
ChildrenJagat Kumar (son)
Parent(s)Jayanti Devi (mother)
RelativesPranav Kumar (brother)
AwardsS. Ramanujan award (2010),[1] Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Shiksha Puraskar (Nov. 2010)[2]
HonoursNamed in Time magazine's list of Best of Asia 2010
WebsiteSuper 30

Early life

Anand Kumar was born in Patna, Bihar, India. His father was a clerk[11] in the postal department of India. His father could not afford private schooling for his children, and Anand attended a Hindi medium government school, where he developed his deep interest in mathematics.[12][13] In his childhood, he studied at Patna High School, in Patna, Bihar. During his graduation, Kumar submitted papers on number theory, which were published in the Mathematical Spectrum. He also sent a letter to the editor of The Mathematical Gazette[14] during his graduation days.

Kumar secured admission to the University of Cambridge, but could not attend because of his father's death and his financial condition,[12][15] even after seeking sponsors in 1994–1995, both in Patna and Delhi.[16]

Kumar would work on mathematics during day time and sell papads in evenings with his mother, who had started a business from home, to support their family.[12] Kumar tutored students to earn extra funds. Since the Patna University library did not have foreign journals, Kumar would travel every weekend on a six-hour train journey to Varanasi, where his younger brother, learning violin under N. Rajam, had a hostel room, so that he could work there.

Teaching career
Further information: Super 30

In 1992, Kumar began teaching mathematics.[12][13] He rented a classroom for Rs. 500 a month, and began his own institute, the Ramanujan School of Mathematics (RSM).[12][17] Within the span of year, his class grew from two students to thirty-six, and after three years almost 500 students had enrolled.[12] Then in early 2000, when a poor student came to him seeking coaching for IIT-JEE, who could not afford the annual admission fee due to poverty, Kumar was motivated to start the Super 30 programme in 2002, for which he is now well-known.[12][16]

Since 2002, every May, the Ramanujan School of Mathematics holds a competitive test to select 30 students for the Super 30 program. Many students appear at the test, and eventually, he takes thirty intelligent students from economically backward sections, tutors them, and provides study materials and lodging for a year.[12] He prepares them for the Joint Entrance Examination for the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT). His mother, Jayanti Devi, cooks for the students, and his brother Pranav Kumar takes care of the management.[12][18]

During 2003 to 2017, 391 students out of 450 passed the IITs.[12][19] In 2010, all the students of Super 30 cleared IIT JEE entrance making it a three in a row for the institution.[20] Kumar has no financial support for Super 30 from any government as well as private agencies, and manages on the tuition fee he earns from the Ramanujan Institute.[16] After the success of Super 30 and its growing popularity, he received offers from the private sector – both national and international companies – as well as the government for financial help, but he has refused it; Kumar wanted to sustain Super 30 through his own efforts.[16][18]

From 2006 to 2007, 30 out of 30 students cleared the IIT-JEE. In subsequent years, the pass rates for the 30 students at the prestigious IIT-JEE examinations were: 2011 – 24, 2012–27, 2013–28, 2014–27, 2015–25, 2016–28, 2017–30, and 2018 – 26.[18][21][22]

Recognition

In March 2009, Discovery Channel broadcast a one-hour-long programme on Super 30,[4][15][23] and half a page was devoted to Kumar in The New York Times.[15] Actress and former Miss Japan Norika Fujiwara visited Patna to make a documentary on Kumar's initiatives.[17] Kumar has been featured in programmes by the BBC.[15] He has spoken about his experiences at various global-level institutes including Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, a number of IITs, University of British Columbia, Tokyo University and Stanford University.[15][24][25] He was also inducted in the Limca Book of Records (2009) for his contribution in helping poor students pass the IIT-JEE by providing them free coaching.[26] Time magazine included Super 30 in the list of Best of Asia 2010. Kumar was awarded the S. Ramanujan Award for 2010 by the Institute for Research and Documentation in Social Sciences (IRDS) in July 2010.[1]

Super 30 received praise from United States President Barack Obama's special envoy, Rashad Hussain, who termed it the "best" institute in the country.[27] Newsweek Magazine has taken note of the initiative of mathematician Anand Kumar's Super 30 and included his school in the list of four most innovative schools in the world.[28] Kumar was given the top award of Bihar government, "Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad Shiksha Puraskar", in November 2010.[2] He was awarded the Prof. Yashwantrao Kelkar Yuva Puraskar award in 2010 by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in Bangalore.

In April 2011, Kumar was selected by Europe's magazine Focus as "one of the global personalities who have the ability to shape exceptionally talented people."[29] Kumar also helped Amitabh Bachchan in preparing for his role in the film Aarakshan.[30] Many people from Bollywood including renowned directors and producers are interested in making a movie on the life of Anand Kumar.[31] He was named by UK based magazine Monocle among the list of 20 pioneering teachers of the world.[32] He was also honoured by government of British Columbia, Canada.[33] Kumar was given the Baroda Sun Life Achievement Award by Bank of Baroda in Mumbai.[34] Kumar was conferred with the prestigious Ramanujan Mathematics Award at the Eighth National Mathematics Convention at function in Rajkot.[35] He was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate of Science (DSc) by Karpagam University, Coimbatore.[36] He was also awarded Maharishi Ved Vyas by Madhya Pradesh Government for extraordinary contribution in education[37] Anand Kumar was honored by ministry of education of Saxony of Germany.[38]

Kumar presented his biography to the Honorable President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, which was written by Canada-based psychiatrist Biju Mathew.[39] Anand Kumar was awarded "Rashtriya Bal Kalyan Award" by the president of India Ram Nath Kovind.[40]

Awards

On 8 November 2018, Anand Kumar was honoured with the Global Education Award[41] 2018 by Malabar Gold & Diamonds in Dubai. His efforts in the field of education are considered "pioneering". Anand Kumar has been felicitated in the US with "Education Excellence Award 2019 " by the Foundation For Excellence in Education (FFE) at a function in San Jose, California.[42]

Bollywood director Vikas Bahl has directed a film titled Super 30, with Hrithik Roshan as Anand Kumar, based on his life and works. The movie was a great success at the box office and became a great inspiration for many students[43][10]

Smear campaigns

On 23 July 2018, an article in Dainik Jagran cited former Super 30 students who said that only three students from the program had passed the IIT JEE exam that year, contrary to Kumar's claim that 26 had passed.[44] The report also claimed that students who sought to enroll in Super 30 were pushed to enroll in another coaching center called Ramanuj Classes, a for-profit institution, on the pretext that Kumar would coach them if they performed well. Furthermore, the article alleged that by asking IIT aspirants to enroll in Ramanuj Classes, Kumar made over Rs 1 crore annually.[44]

Former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Tejashwi Yadav spoke in favour of Anand Kumar and said that "propaganda is being run in media influenced by feudal mindset to discredit and defame Anand Kumar." Union Cabinet Minister and former actor, Shatrughan Sinha, has also spoken in Kumar's favour on Twitter.[45][46] In August 2018, The Hindu reported that Kumar and his school are frequently the target of smear campaigns, and identified the potential sources of the fabricated stories that appeared in the Dainik Jagran newspaper in July.[9][47]

gollark: Figures of speech are contained in Site 2-Alpha.
gollark: They don't really care about environmental conditions. I don't know why you wanted this.
gollark: Done! The computational cuboid chamber is now at 4 K.
gollark: Deploying liquid helium …
gollark: It is not capable of this and would not if it was.

References
  1. "IRDS Awards 2010".
  2. "Bihar honours Super 30 founder with top award". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 18 May 2013. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
  3. "JEE Advanced result 2017: It is 30/30 for Anand Kumar's Super 30". Hindustan Times. 12 June 2017. Archived from the original on 13 June 2017. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  4. Chaudhary, Pranava K (14 March 2009). "Discovery to showcase Super-30 today". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 30 June 2013. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
  5. "Living the vilayat dream at home – Teacher who failed to study abroad coaches students to do so". The Telegraph. 22 February 2005. Archived from the original on 23 September 2009. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
  6. Tewary, Amarnath (21 September 2006). "Helping poor Indians crack toughest test". BBC News. Archived from the original on 29 May 2010. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
  7. "Super 30 does it again: 28 of its students crack JEE Advanced". Hindustan Times. 12 June 2016. Archived from the original on 22 June 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  8. "Super 30 founder Anand Kumar invited to speak at MIT and Harvard". The Economic Times India. 29 September 2014. Archived from the original on 1 October 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  9. Amarnath Tewary (22 August 2018). "Bihar Super-30 founder faces smear campaign". Archived from the original on 13 July 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2019. When asked who is behind all this, he quipped, "everyone knows in Patna who is he…why should I take his name?” Is he former DGP Abhyanand who was earlier associated with Super-30 for five years?, Mr. Kumar did not respond.
  10. "Super 30 trailer out. Hrithik Roshan stuns as math wizard Anand Kumar in new film". India Today. 4 June 2019. Archived from the original on 4 June 2019. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
  11. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 17 December 2009. Retrieved 15 December 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. "He trains India's poorest students for the IIT". Careers360. 15 December 2009. Archived from the original on 17 December 2009. Retrieved 15 December 2009.
  13. "Super 30 Founder Anand Kumar, a Mathematician on a Mission". Success Stories. 28 May 2012. Archived from the original on 7 November 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2012.
  14. "Letter to the Editor: Happy numbers (page 122 and 123)".
  15. Sengupta, Uttam (14 June 2009). "Genius at work". The Sunday Tribune. Archived from the original on 23 September 2009. Retrieved 11 July 2009.
  16. "Mr. Cent Per Cent". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 14 November 2009. Archived from the original on 30 April 2012. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
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  25. "Anand focus on teachers for excellence". The Telegraph. 8 October 2014. Archived from the original on 19 October 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
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  27. "Obama's special envoy hails Super 30". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 8 August 2010. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
  28. "Super-30-incredible-says-Newsweek". The Times of India. 19 September 2010. Archived from the original on 5 July 2013. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
  29. "Super 30 founder is Europe journal's global personality". Hindu Business Line. 20 April 2011. Archived from the original on 7 October 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
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  33. "Bihar's Super 30 coaching idea wins high praise in Canada". The Times of India. 21 February 2012.
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  41. "Home – Prime Time Research Media Global Education Awards, Market Research Company". globaleducationawards.com. Archived from the original on 7 March 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  42. "Rashtriya Bal Kalyan Award presented to Super-30 founder". The Economic Times. 19 September 2019.
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  45. Subhash K Jha (3 August 2018). "Anand Kumar fighting a smear campaign". Deccan Chronicle. Archived from the original on 5 June 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2019. But ever since the announcement of the project, it seems people are out to discredit Anand’s work.
  46. "Super 30 mentor Anand Kumar gets support from Tejashwi Yadav, Shatrughan Sinha amid charges of fabrication". The Financial Express. 31 July 2018. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
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